The Green Prince

The astonishing story of the relationship between an Israeli secret services agent and the son of a high-ranking Hamas member who for years was a spy.


Open image gallery

  • Director Nadav Schirman
  • Producers John Battsek, Simon Chinn, Nadav Schirman
  • Germany-Israel-UK 2014
  • 99 mins
  • UK distribution Artificial Eye

Gripping like a thriller and structured like a Greek tragedy, The Green Prince is a spy story so audacious it takes effort to remember this is not fiction. Palestinian Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader, became one of the world’s most famous spies when he was revealed to have spent a decade working for Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet. Framed in short chapters, the film plays as a two-hander of engrossing testimonies from Yousef and his handler, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, mixing archive material and dramatic reconstruction that go into forensic detail about the journey this relationship has taken, and the conflicting impulses they experienced. Picking up an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, Nadav Schirman’s confident direction ensures the film’s strength is its focus on the emotional nature of this unconventional friendship, examining the personal choices made at each stage and the ramifications of following one’s own moral compass.

Kate Taylor